sky

noun

1. The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the surface of the Earth as the place where the sun, moon, stars, and clouds are seen.

   “That year, a meteor fell from the sky.”

   “For beſides the groues, / The skyes, the fountaines, euery region neare / Seeme all one mutuall cry. I neuer heard / So muſicall a diſcord, ſuch ſweete thunder.”

   “His wearie ghoſt aſſoyld from fleſhly band, / Did not as others wont, directly fly / Vnto her reſt in Plutoes grieſly land, / Ne into ayre did vaniſh preſently, / Ne chaunged was into a ſtarre in sky: […]”

   “[I]f you doe not all ſhew like guilt twoo pences to mee, and I in the cleere skie of Fame, ore-ſhine you as much as the full moone doth the cindars of the element, (which ſhew like pinnes heads to her) beleeue not the worde of the noble: […]”

   “[A] Nobler Sir, ne're liu'd / 'Twixt sky and ground.”

2. With a descriptive word: the part of the sky which can be seen from a specific place or at a specific time; its climate, condition, etc.

   “I lay back under a warm Texas sky.”

   “We’re not sure how long the cloudy skies will last.”

   “Yon ancient prude, whoſe wither'd features ſhow / She might be young ſome forty years ago, / […] / With boney and unkerchief'd neck defies / The rude inclemency of wintry ſkies, / And ſails with lappet-head and mincing airs / Duely at clink of bell, to morning pray'rs.”

   “All in a hot and copper sky / The bloody sun at noon, / Right up above the mast did stand, / No bigger than the moon.”

   “[T]he stars / Eastward were sparkling clear, and in the west / The orange sky of evening died away.”

3. (archaic, literary, poetic)Usually preceded by the: the abode of God or the gods, angels, the souls of deceased people, etc.; heaven; also, powers emanating from heaven.

   “This mortal has incurred the wrath of the skies.”

   “Now am I dead, now am I fled, my ſoule is in the sky.”

   “Sweet Queen of Parlie, Daughter of the Sphære, / So maist thou be tranſlated to the skies, / And give reſounding grace to all Heav'ns Harmonies.”

   “Him the Almighty Power / Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie / With hideous ruine and combuſtion down / To bottomleſs perdition, there to dwell / In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire, / Who durſt defie th' Omnipotent to Arms.”

   “The Gods to live in Woods have left the Skies.”

4. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Ellipsis of sky blue.

   “But yet methinks, thoſe knots of Sky, do not / So well with the dead colour of her Face.”

   “[W]hy, / Brother, I have beſpoke Dinner, and engag'd / Mr. Rake-hell, the little ſmart Gentleman I have / Often promis'd thee to make thee acquainted / Withal, to bring a whole Bevy of Damſels / In Sky, and Pink, and Flame-colour'd Taffeta's.”

5. The set of all lightlike lines (or directions) passing through a given point in space-time.
6. (informal, obsolete, rare)In an art gallery: the upper rows of pictures that cannot easily be seen; also, the place where such pictures are hung.
7. (obsolete)A cloud.
8. (UK, obsolete, slang)A disagreeable person; an enemy.

verb

1. (informal, transitive)To drink (a beverage) from a container without one's lips touching the container.
2. (dated, informal, transitive)To hang (a picture on exhibition) near the top of a wall, where it cannot easily be seen; (by extension) to put (something) in an undesirable place.

   “The artists—I mean the younger brood, and not the Brother Academicians who "skied" his pictures—were the first and the most enthusiastic in his [George Fuller's] praise.”

3. (dated, slang, transitive)To toss (something) upwards; specifically, to flip (a coin).

   “In ‘skying’ a coin for the purpose of deciding a point at issue between two parties, two methods are in vogue: there is either the ‘slow torture’ of spinning the coin thrice, the decision to go against the tosser-up, if the other party, twice out of the three times, guesses right on which side the coin shall fall; or, the ‘sudden death’ method in which one toss is decisive; […]”

4. (transitive)To clear (a high jump bar, hurdle, etc.) by a large margin.
5. (transitive)To hit, kick, or throw (a ball) extremely high.

   “Hernandez [i.e., Félix Hernández] walked the bases loaded, then fell behind 3–1 in the count to Bobby Abreu, who then skied the next pitch to left for a sacrifice fly.”

6. (transitive)To miss a goal by kicking the ball over the crossbar.

   “He laid on the two best chances, both wasted by Pratt, who skied one and stubbed his toe on the other.”

   “Van Persie [i.e., Robin van Persie] skied a penalty, conceded by Gary Caldwell who was sent off, and also hit the post before scoring his third with a shot at the near post.”

7. (obsolete, transitive)To raise (the price of an item on auction, or the level of the bids generally) by bidding high.

   “All of a sudden he appeared as a third competitor, skied the Flying Scud with four fat bids of a thousand dollars each, and then as suddenly fled the field, remaining thenceforth (as before) a silent, interested spectator.”

8. (intransitive)To move quickly, as if by flying; to fly; also, to escape, to flee (especially by airplane).
9. (intransitive)To hit, kick, or throw a ball extremely high.
10. (intransitive)To raise an oar too high above the water.

name

1. A surname.
2. A unisex given name from English.

   “The bad thing was she took my son Skiff with her. It's a dumb name I know, but at the time he was born all the kids were being called things like Sky and Saffron and Powie, and I was really sold on sailing.”

3. (alt-of, obsolete)Obsolete form of Skye (“Scottish island”).

   “A strange instance of something of this nature, even when on horseback, happened when he was in the isle of Sky.”